14 March 2004	Sunday	22 Muharram 1425

HYDERABAD, March 13: The Pakistan Telecommunication Employees Union, Southern Telecommunication Region-I (STR-I) has accused the officials of supporting to their rival union to sabotage the referendum to be held on March 16 for the election of the collective bargaining agent.

Speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Friday, the office-bearers of the employees union, STR-I chapter, Shakeel Ahmed Khan, Shafi Mallah, Ghaffar Shaikh, Javed Saleem and Ashraf Hussain said 54,000 workers throughout the country would vote in the referendum.

They said the union had won two referendums and it would achieve hat-trick in the March 16 referendum. They said their leader Rana Abdul Majid was murdered in his Lahore residence in 1996 for upholding the truth.

They said their rival "Pak Telecommunication Company Lions Staff Union" was trying to sabotage the referendum by using government machinery.

They blamed Ashraf Abro, Mohammed Mithal and A. D. Shar harassed the workers by using their influence.

They said the National Industrial Relation Commission and the PTCL management had already been informed about the illegal activities of the officials.